Talking about Respect

Here at Coode & Corry we have always been concerned about the rates of domestic violence in the community, and in 2012 and 2013 we started to reach out to community groups to see if anyone wanted us to speak with them about domestic violence and respectful relationships. We stole the title of the proposed talks, "No Respect, No Relationship" from a government program that didn't get off the ground.

Why does respect matter?

Remember the advertising campaign, 'To violence against women, Australia says No!' ? That campaign was originally supposed to be 'No Respect, No Relationship' which might not sound as punchy, but it certainly covers a much broader range of negative and anti social behaviour. The campaign was changed at the last minute, but we thought it was such a good idea that we borrowed the general premise for our community engagement talks when we were dealing with high schools and young adults.

It isn't simple

The federal government has launched a campaign about titled Respect. The campaign is aimed at parents and family members of children aged 10–17, as well as the teachers, coaches, community leaders and employers of young people.

The website includes materials to assist adults to have meaningful conversations with the young people in their lives about respectful relationships, what they look like, and what to watch out for. In the conversation guide the website states that you should "Let your children know that respect and disrespect aren’t simple issues" and gives you some guidelines for working through examples and discussion topics to highlight examples of either behaviour.

Be prepared

The short answer (according to the website) is to be prepared to seize opportunities to discuss respectful or disrespectful relationships when they arise. This is an ongoing conversation, not something you discuss once.

At Coode & Corry we have been speaking with community groups for some time now about respectful relationships and we can help you with this process. We can speak with young people about respect, how to define it, and then we talk them through some examples and ask them to work out what may or may not be respectful. Our talks are not limited to women as victims or to romantic relationships, but we discuss how all relationships should be founded upon respect.

We have also spoken with groups of adults about the statistics in this area (that is raising awareness) and what they can do about the problem. Our talks are free, we are passionate about stemming the tide of family violence and keen to be part of the solution. If you are interested in having one of our experienced solicitors speak to your community group please contact Janis Donnelly-Coode at janis@coodecorry.com.au

More Information

If you would like some more information about Domestic Violence then please click on the blue button to the right to read some more of our articles.